


Before Lotus...

by Starlight1395



Series: Heroes Among Us [2]
Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Bullying, Child Abuse, Extreme Dissociation, Fighting, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, MJ basically brings everyone together, Mentions of Big Bang, Murder, Self Harm, Suicidal Thoughts, Time Manipulation, death of nameless characters, murder of a bad guy so it's okay, tags will be changed as chapters are added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-08-20 02:09:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16546790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starlight1395/pseuds/Starlight1395
Summary: Before there was Lotus, before even Astro.How did the five members of the beloved superhero team Astro get their powers?Like they said, those gained from necessity are stronger... and harder to control.It's almost funny, how everything works out. Things happening at just the right moment, meeting people just when you need to... maybe it's fate?





	1. Burnout

Jinwoo didn’t remember his mom. He didn’t remember a lot of his childhood. The clearest memory he had before middle school was sitting in his room, trying not to make a sound. He couldn’t quite remember what he was hiding from, but now he had a hunch. He just remembered laying under his bed, taking shallow breaths that you could barely hear, even if you were listening for it.

“Jinwoo! You lazy son of a bitch!” His dad yelled across the house. Jinwoo didn’t know what he did this time, but knowing that man it was probably something stupid.

“The fuck do you want?” Jinwoo called back, not really caring what his dad was screaming about this time. He learned to be spiteful right back, or else he’d be sore for days to come. Weakness wasn’t tolerated.

“You didn’t use that chicken with dinner last night, and now it’s disgusting!” Jinwoo rolled his eyes and brushed his bangs over his eyes. He had to leave in five minutes if he wanted to make it to homeroom without another detention.

“That chicken was garbage last night and it’s garbage today. Just because you don’t care about getting sick doesn’t mean I don’t.”

“I should beat some sense into you, wasting food as if money grows on trees-” the rest of the rant was cut off as Jinwoo slammed the front door closed. His shoes crunched on the stone driveway that lead up to his house, which from the outside seemed normal enough. The paint was peeling, and there was some repair work that needed to be done, but otherwise it fit in with the other suburban houses around them. He quickly unlocked his beat up car and tossed his backpack into the back.

His CD player started up as soon as he turned the key, and the heavy bass shook the frame of the car. Jinwoo let himself relax as the familiar beat washed over him. He adjusted his long sleeves and reversed out of the driveway, almost wanting to get a detention again only so he could stay at school longer.

* * *

  
_“It’s okay baby,” A female voice whispered to Jinwoo. He felt small and safe and content. The woman held him close to her. “Don’t cry baby boy. Mama’s here.”_

_“I’m scared…” Jinwoo whimpered, burying his face in her chest. He couldn’t bring himself to look up. He knew if he did, her face would be covered by a shadow, as it always was. His dad had destroyed any picture of her before Jinwoo could even walk, so all his assumptions were based off his own appearance._

_“I know baby, but it’ll be okay.” She carded her fingers through his hair and he felt a weight lift off his chest._

_“Why- why did you leave me?” He asked, crying out._

_“Because… because you killed me Jinwoo.” The woman laughed gently and dropped Jinwoo. He landed painfully on the ground, and he realized he was in his own living room._

_“I didn’t-”_

_“If you had never been born, I would still be alive,” The woman was still talking calmly, as if she was still comforting her son. “You killed me. You’re a murderer, Jinwoo.”_

_“I never-”_

_“You deserve everything you get-” The voice changed to one that was deeper and far more familiar. His dad grinned down at him, a cigarette dangling from thin lips._

_“Dad-”_

_“Don’t talk to me,” His dad glared down at him. Jinwoo looked up at the man, who seemed to grow taller and loomed over the boy menacingly. “Fucking parasite. That’s all you’ll ever be.”_

_“Stop-”_

_“You should do everyone a favor and die already-”_

_“NO-”_

“WAKE UP!” Jinwoo shot awake, his eyes watering and his heart beating hard enough to feel in his ears.

“What-?” He gasped, a tear running down his face.

“You fell asleep,” His teacher looked at him with worry. “You seemed to be having a nightmare…”

“I’m sorry sir,” Jinwoo’s voice shook. “Could I go to the bathroom?”

“Are you okay? I can call your dad-?”

“NO! Please no, I’ll be fine…” Jinwoo jumped to his feet and bowed quickly before grabbing his bag and running from the classroom. He locked himself in the handicap stall, breathing heavily and willing the tears not to fall. He bit his lip, tasting blood but not letting up. He scratched at his arm, his nails catching on the round, raised welts left behind from the last few times his dad was drunk and mad.

Jinwoo waited until he was cried out before grabbing his bag and walking out of the school. No one tried to stop him - his reputation of being a bad kid preceded him - and went to his car. He threw his bag into the bag into the back seat with enough force to rip the already weak fabric. He slammed the door shut, causing the small crack on the driver’s side window - caused by an acorn hitting it the fall before - to widen.

Something in his gut curled as he raced back to his house. He parked and stomped into the house. It was the middle of the day, and his dad somehow managed to hold down a job as a construction worker, so he should have been alone.

“Jinwoo? Why the ever loving fuck are you here?” Jinwoo’s blood ran cold. All the rage that had been fueling him instantly vanished as he heard leavy footsteps coming towards him.

“S-school let out early.” Jinwoo lied, knowing he was fucked when his voice cracked.

“I know the fuck it didn’t,” The man hulked in the doorway of the kitchen. “I know when you lie to me, bitch. Don’t think you can get away with this shit.”

“I felt sick and came home,” It wasn’t technically a lie. Jinwoo saw his dad pause out of the corner of his eye and prayed maybe he would get out of this in one piece. “I’m sorry I lied.”  
“You better fuckin be,” His dad snarled, grabbing him by the hair and pulling his head up so the boy could look him in the eye. “You really are just a waste of space, aren’t you? God, I wish you had died instead of her.”

“Yeah? Well me too,” Jinwoo spat out, the fire in his stomach relit at the mention of his mother. “I’d give anything to go back and trade places with her. Then I wouldn’t have to deal with a piece of shit as a dad!”

“You wanna trade places so badly?” the man laughed - it was a cold, rough, humorless sound that made Jinwoo’s skin crawl. “Why don’t I send you off with a grin then?”

His father dragged him into the living room and threw Jinwoo onto the floor. The dirty rug dug into his skin in a way that he could never forget. It had happened so many times before that he was almost shocked he didn’t have the pattern of the carpet imprinted on his cheek. His dad lit a cigarette and crouched next to him. Jinwoo stayed frozen, knowing fully well what would happen if he tried to fight back.

“You worthless piece of shit!” The red hot end of the cigarette came down on Jinwoo’s neck. Jinwoo screamed, spit flying from his mouth as he writhed in pain as the man held the fire against his skin for a count of ten. His dad just laughed and used his free hand to close off his throat. The man’s filthy skin against the fresh burn was agony, and Jinwoo felt tears running down his cheeks. “Look at you, crying like a little fuckin bitch. Why I outta teach you a lesson.”

The man, still pinning Jinwoo down with one hand, took the cigarette in the other and tapped the ash off in the boy’s face. Jinwoo tried to spit out the ash, his gag reflex kicking in at the hot taste. His dad just laughed as his son struggled and grinned down at him.

“You want to meet your mother?” He teased, flicking more ash onto Jinwoo’s face. “Here, let me get the door for you.”

He brought the cigarette down on Jinwoo’s face, the red hot end colliding with the boy’s cheekbone just as he tightened his hand around Jinwoo’s neck.

Jinwoo screamed as his vision started to go black around the edges. A calm passed through him as he realized he was really going to die at the hands of his dad, who never once treated him like a real son.

He smelled smoke. Jinwoo closed his eyes and stopped screaming. He just wanted it to be over.

The screaming continued.

Jinwoo opened his eyes when the pressure was suddenly gone from his throat and scrambled away before looking to see what happened. With his back against the wall, Jinwoo watched as a fire engulfed his dad.

He wished the fire would burn faster, and suddenly the man’s screams got louder - as if the fire was eating him even quicker.

Jinwoo knew a few kids with powers, most who developed them in middle school. He never had a power himself, but he could somehow sense the ebb and flow of the fire in front of him, as if he could…

Control it.

Jinwoo grinned as he made the fire bigger, hotter, deadlier.

The screams stopped.

His dad could never hurt him again.

There was no evidence of the fire, except for a charred lump on the rug. It looked like a small stump that someone had burnt and left. There was no distinguishing that it had been a person. Jinwoo grinned wider. He went to his dad’s room where he knew the man kept a large stash of cash and took it.

Jinwoo quickly took everything from the house that he could need - money, credit cards, some spare clothing, the one picture of his mom that he was able to find - a far away shot of her, standing with her back towards the camera as she knelt down to pick something up - and even some cocaine that he found, figuring he could sell it.

He stuffed everything into his backpack. He hesitated in the threshold of the building he grew up in, but shook his head with a smile. He closed the door, locking it firmly behind him and throwing the key away in the bushes before heading towards the center of town. He had a bus to catch and a new life to live.

* * *

  
“Wh-what do you want from me?” The man sobbed, staring up at Jinwoo with horror.

“I just want to see you squirm.” Jinwoo grinned, causing little fires to appear under the man. He jumped up and tried to avoid the flames, causing Jinwoo to laugh.

“You’re a freak!” The man shouted as he raced away, his pants singed in several places.

“Yeah, well…” Jinwoo trailed off, talking to himself. “At least I’m a freak with control.” He sighed and kicked at the scorch mark on the ground.

He had been in this new town for about a month. He rented a small apartment in the shadier part of the area for a price that made him question who had been killed there. All he had was a couch he found on the side of the road that acted as his bed, a fridge that had been left by the last tennant, along with a microwave that always burnt his food and a shitty gas stove that only lit half the time. The bathroom was just a corner of the room that was tile instead of stained carpeting and a faucet head that was rusting and a toilet that was obviously cobbled together from others toilets. He fashioned some cardboard boxes to act as a makeshift dresser, and hung a blanket that someone had thrown away over the window to prevent the pervert in the apartment across the way from him looking in.

In the month of living in town. Jinwoo managed to make quite the name for himself. He felt quite proud of himself coming up with the name Burnout.

He was a burnout. He was all charred up and empty, only regret and remorse inside him anymore.

“Ugh, it’s you again.” The cashier said with disdain. She knew that it was Jinwoo that was bullying the others in the area, even if he wore a hood over his face when he did it. She didn’t seem to be afraid of him though.

“You should be a little nicer to the person who could kill you here and now.” Jinwoo snapped, throwing some off brand snacks onto the counter. The girl rolled her eyes.

“Whatever,” She sneered, scanning the food. “Anyone could walk in here and kill me. You’re all bark and no bite. Burnout my ass. You’re a wash-up.”

“Why I outta-” Jinwoo started but stopped abruptly.

He sounded just like his father.

“You good?” The girl asked, sounding confused. Jinwoo blinked at her, feeling how pale his face had become.

“I- I have to go.” he said quickly, throwing some bills at her, not caring he paid more than twice what the total was. As he rushed back to his apartment, he tried to clear his mind. He slammed the door shut behind him, his breathing rough. Throwing the snacks onto the small counter next to the stove, he collapsed onto the couch-bed and closed his eyes tightly.

What was he becoming?

* * *

  
Jinwoo smirked. He had wanted a little fun before the sun set fully, and just in time someone rushed towards him. The man was short, and had large eyes that made Jinwoo wonder why he was in this part of town.

“Let’s play, shall we?” Jinwoo said mockingly, causing a little fire to make the man jump. The man looked between Jinwoo and the fire, the moment he made the connection clear on his face.

“You don’t have it.” He sounded disappointed. He looked over his shoulder and seemed to deflate, and it pissed Jinwoo off.

“Are you brave or stupid?” He spat. “I could kill you-”

Jinwoo was caught off guard by a fist flying at his face. He realized the other man was about the same height as him up close. Jinwoo easily caught the man’s fist and deflected the punch. He was too shocked to do much, which resulted in the other man being able to tackle him and pin him to the ground.

“There, I won,” The man said, huffing slightly. “You said let’s play and I won, so kindly fuck off, will you?’

“Who are you?” Jinwoo stared up at the other man, curious. Who in the world would have balls big enough to tackle someone whose power is literally control over fire?

“My name is Myungjun,” He said, his mouth quirking up in a smile. “What’s yours?”

“Burnout-”

“No, your real name.”

“Oh… Jinwoo…” He realized he hadn’t gone by his real name even once since getting off the bus.

“That’s a pretty name,” Myungjun smiled fully and Jinwoo’s eyes widened. “Do you live around here? My wallet was stolen and it had all my money in it. I’d really appreciate it if I could spend the night.”

“Y-yeah…” Jinwoo was still being straddled by the man, who grinned down at him.

“Nice,” Myungjun didn’t seem to care that he was still pinning Jinwoo to the dirty alley ground. “I’ll call my credit card company when we get there to report it stolen. Thankfully I only had enough cash for the bus home.”

* * *

  
“I’ve heard of you,” Myungjun said after they finished the take out Jinwoo ordered for them. “You’re the one that always plays with people.”

“Huh?” Jinwoo was still kind of in shock. He had eaten his first real(ish) meal in days and was actually talking to someone normally. He couldn’t remember the last time he talked to someone like a… friend.

“You always bully people but you never actually hurt them,” he said it very matter of factly and it made Jinwoo even more confused. “Why though?”

“I guess…” Was he actually going to confide in this stranger who tackled him to the ground? “I just wanted control. If I’m the one standing, the one looking down at someone… they can’t hurt me.”

“So you’re not some sort of villain,” Myungjun said, scooting over to wrap an arm around Jinwoo’s shoulders. He jumped at the sudden touch, expecting to be hit but when no blow came, Jinwoo found himself relax a little. “You’re just misunderstood.”

“Nah, I’m a villain,” Jinwoo said with a heavy tone. “I’m an asshole. I beat up people and steal their money and burn them when they don’t do what I want.”

“But have you ever really hurt someone?”

“I killed my father.” Jinwoo said abruptly. His words hung in the air and when he realized what he had admitted, he started sobbing into Myungjun’s chest as though a switch inside of him had been hit. “Oh my god, I fuckin killed my own dad! What kind of monster am I? I just… I just burnt him to a crisp, and I liked it! I was- I was just so happy that he couldn’t hurt me anymore that I- I didn’t care that I killed someone!” He started coughing because of how hard he was crying, but Myungjun didn’t tell him to stop crying - to man up or to stop being a bitch. He just rubbed Jinwoo’s back and handed him a small trashcan when it looked like Jinwoo was going to throw up. Jinwoo continued to babble on and on about his life, not knowing if what he was saying made any sense.

“It makes sense now,” Myungjun said softly. Jinwoo was resting his head on the other man’s thigh. His head was pounding and his eyes were burning, but he felt lighter almost. He hummed, questioning what Myungjun meant. “Why you bullied people, and why your power is fire… Jinwoo, you’re not a monster. What you did was self defense. He was going to kill you if you didn’t do something.”

“I killed both of my parents.” Jinwoo whispered, his voice rough.

“You didn’t kill your mom. Childbirth is a dangerous thing, and if anything, she gave up her life so that you could have yours. She would never blame you for what happened. She loves you more than anything.”

Jinwoo didn’t know how he had more tears, but hearing Myungjun say his mom loved him caused another wave of soft sobs to take over. The other man just held him until he was calm again, whispering comforts and running a hand through his hair gently.

“Hey,” Myungjun said, long after Jinwoo had calmed down and cleaned up. They were just about to fall asleep, Myungjun on the couch and Jinwoo on the floor.

“Would you want to move in with me?”

“What?”

“I know it’s weird, but I have an actual house and… and I know you’re a good person. I can tell. Besides… it gets really lonely all by myself.”

“You know what?” Jinwoo turned over and could just barely make out Myungjun’s shape on the couch from the faint light coming through the poorly covered window. “Alright. It’ll be nice to have a roommate.”

“You won’t regret this.” His smile was audible in his words.

As Jinwoo drifted off to sleep, he knew Myungjun was right. He wasn’t going to regret it.


	2. Bloodhound

Myungjun had always had his powers. From an early age, he always seemed to know where things were. His parents were never able to hide Christmas or birthday presents for long, his little toddler fingers always pulling at the wrapping long before the holiday. When Aunts and Uncles would bring him things, he instantly knew what was in their pockets.

For a while, his parents thought he had some sort of future sight. How else would their child be able to tell when someone had something? That hope was quickly smashed when they tested his powers and Myungjun just blinked up at them, confused.

Things went downhill in elementary school. At home, with his family, Myungjun never had to hide his power. They thought it was a fun game, seeing how long it would take MJ to find the present, or the candy, or the shiney coin for his bank. At school, however, kids were much cruler.

“Where’s my sharpener?” Myungjun asked himself as he dug through his desk. It was only the third day of first grade. How did he already lose his pencil sharpener? Just as he was about to raise his hand, he sensed something.

Two to his left. His sharpener.

“Excuse me,” He went up to the kid, who was much taller than him - not that it was hard. Myungjun was a small child. “I think you have my sharpener.”

“Why would I have your sharpener?” The boy asked, sounding bored.

“I don’t know why, but you have it.” Myungjun pushed. He wanted to sharpen his yellow pencil so he could finish the picture he was drawing.

“I don’t have your stupid sharpener.” The kid said, raising his voice a little. MJ frowned at the word ‘stupid’. His parents were very careful about the words they said around him, so to six year old Myungjun, it was basically a curse.

“I just wanted to finish my picture…” He trailed off, not wanting to fight with the boy whose name he didn’t even know.

“Teacher! He keeps saying I stole his pencil sharpener but I didn’t!” The boy suddenly yelled, getting the attention of the only adult in the room. Myungjun was confused. Why was he lying? All he wanted was his sharpener.

“Myungjun, why are you lying?” The teacher came over and asked the smaller boy gently.

“I’m.. I’m not lying! He has it! I don’t know why he took it but he did!” Myungjun felt his eyes sting. Why was he the liar? “It’s in his pocket.”

“Do you have his sharpener?” The teacher asked the boy, who gave her a very obviously fake innocent face.

“Of course not! I don’t know why he’s trying to get me in trouble.” He said, sticking his bottom lip out.

“Myungjun, we’re going to have to talk to your parents if this happens again. Lying is very, very bad.” She scolded MJ, who looked between the boy and the teacher with shock.

“But I’m not lying!” He tried again, fighting against tears. “I promise I’m not lying!”

“You can borrow my sharpener, but you have to apologize to your classmate for accusing him of stealing.” His teacher handed him a cheap plastic pencil sharpener, which Myungjun took with a numb hand. He was shocked. Why was the teacher believing the other boy when MJ knew for a fact his sharpener was in the boy’s pocket?

“Sorry…” He mumbled, too shocked to say anything more. He went back to his desk and sharpened his pencil, all the while being able to see the boy’s smirk out of the corner of his eye.

* * *

  
“Can you really find anything?” The girl asked softly. Myungjun had been cornered on his way to study hall, two months into his freshman year of high school.

“I mean, as long as I see a picture of it first.” he said easily. He never tried to hide his power. After a few instances of being called a liar in elementary school, he quickly learned that if his teachers knew he was gifted, they would believe him more often than not.

“Oh, like one of those dogs…” She trailed off, thinking. “A bloodhound, right?”

“Did you need help finding something?” MJ asked, hoping to get the girl back on track. He wasn’t too worried about being late to class, but if she needed help he’d rather get started sooner rather than later. He knew how upsetting it was to be missing something.

“My cat,” She said, her face dropping. “She got out last night and she’s never been outside before. She’s still a kitten, so we’re afraid something might eat her if she’s gone too much longer.”

“Do you have a picture with her?” MJ asked, his chest aching for the girl. His mom called him an empath, always able to feel what others were feeling. “I can look after school lets out.”

“Yeah! This was taken two days ago.” She pulled out her phone for him to see. The kitten was adorable, with inky black fur and a single splash of white on her nose. She was licking the girl’s cheek and the girl was grinning wide.

Already, MJ was picking up something. He wished he could go find the cat then, but he still had two classes.

“Here, this is my number,” He said, writing it down on a scrap of paper. “Text me that picture. It’ll be easier to find her if I have it on me.”

“Thank you so much!” The girl suddenly surged forward and hugged Myungjun tightly.

“I’ll find your cat, don’t worry.” MJ smiled warmly at her. Just then, the warning bell rang. She shot him another smile before rushing off to her own class.

The school day seemed to drag on for centuries, and MJ was getting restless. Once he got a lock on something, it made his skin itch until he found it. The girl had sent him the picture he had seen already, along with two more. The second the bell rang, signalling the end of the day, MJ jumped from his seat and rushed out the doors.

“Hey, we still on for today-?” His friend asked as he hurried by.

“I’ll text you later,” He called back. “I have something important right now.”

“Alright man.” His friend waved as he all but sprinted out of the school.

His feet seemed to work for him, taking him left instead of the right he normally took to get home. He ducked down an alley covered in ivy, next to a Thai food place that he had never heard of before. The itching was getting more and more extreme as he walked down the alley, until he felt sparks running in his veins.

There.

MJ moved a piece of cardboard and saw a small black lump. He knelt and felt his heart drop. She was still alive, but just barely. MJ could see red staining what little white fur she had, and her breathing was very shallow.

He carefully scooped her up and rushed down the street where the local animal hospital was tucked between a laundromat and a florist. He called the girl as he ran.

“I found her, but she’s hurt.” MJ said, already running out of breath.

“Oh my god!”

“I’m taking her to the hospital in the center of town,” He said, sprinting across the street before the light turned. “Meet me there.”

“I’ll be there in three minutes.” She hung up, and MJ put all his focus on running without hurting the kitten too much. He burst into the vet, startling the woman at the front desk.

“I don’t know how badly she’s hurt but-” He gasped as he handed the kitten to the woman.

“Is this your pet?” She asked, paging someone to take the kitten to the operating room.

“She’s a classmates cat. She asked me to find her after school but she was already hurt when I got there.”

“We’ll see what we can do.” The nurse said as they went back behind the double doors. Just then, the girl rushed in, tears streaming down her face.

“They just took her back to be operated on.” MJ said, still out of breath.

“Do you think she’ll be okay?”

“I don’t know…” And not for the first time, MJ really did wish he had some sort of future vision. They waited for three hours, hoping for a miracle. After another half hour, someone came out of the back.

“I’m sorry, but we couldn’t save her,” The vet said sadly. The girl instantly burst into tears, but MJ was frozen. “It looked like she had been attacked by dogs. Even if you had brought her in hours ago, the chances of her surviving would still be low… if it’s any consolation, she’s no longer in any pain.”

“Oh my god…” the girl sobbed into her hands, and MJ felt helpless. He could find things, but he didn’t know how to comfort her.

“I’m so sorry…” He said, choking up.

“It’s not your fault,” She hiccuped. “At least she didn’t d-die alone.”

Myungjun had this power, but he wasn’t able to save people from pain, no matter how much he tried. What even was the point of having a power? Myungjun cursed his useless power as he sat in the vet’s waiting room, rubbing the girl’s back as she cried.

* * *

  
“Hey! Give that back!” He knew the second his wallet had been slipped from his back pocket. He could sense the small leather pouch on the man with the baseball cap on. He left his snacks at the counter and rushed after him, ignoring the frustrated yells of the poor cashier. Myungjun chased the man, who slipped into an alley.

He ran after him, only concerned for the photo in the wallet. He couldn’t care less about the five dollars cash he had. Suddenly, he couldn’t sense the man anymore. Instead, another man stood in front of him, who looked to be the same height as him but half the weight he probably should have been.

The man came at him, and Myungjun reacted without thinking, his mind still reeling from the fact that the man with his wallet had managed to get away. It wasn’t until he had the man pinned to the filthy alley ground that MJ realized they were probably the same age too.

“J-jinwoo.” The man - the boy - stuttered, and Myungjun smiled. This was perfect.

* * *

  
“Are you sure this is okay?” Jinwoo asked for the tenth time that day. Myungjun had showed up at the other boy’s shitty apartment at noon on the dot, arms filled with folded boxes and two rolls of clear tape around his wrists like bracelets.

It had only taken the two forty five minutes to pack up all of Jinwoo’s belongings, and only ended up using two of the boxes MJ brought. Jinwoo looked at the two boxes and realized his entire life was summed up by that.

His whole world was two boxes and a shitty couch.

MJ carried one box and Jinwoo carried the other, easily fitting both in the trunk of MJ’s obviously handmedown car.

The ride to the house was mostly silent, save Jinwoo asking if it was really - really, really - okay with him moving in with Myungjun, who just answered each repetition with a smile and a ‘I already said it was’.

“Welcome home Jinwoo,” Myungjun didn’t miss the pain that flashed across his new friend’s face. Judging from what he said the night they met, Myungjun wasn’t sure Jinwoo had ever heard those words before. “Let me give you the grand tour.”

The house itself wasn’t huge, but for one person it was a little excessive. It was built on a hill, had five bedrooms, four and a half baths, an acre of backyard and a full basement that had an entrance into the garage due to the angle of the hill. Myungjin had taken the master bedroom, but had been complaining how big and eerie it felt at night.

“You can pick any room you want,” MJ said casually after he let Jinwoo peek into each of them. There was no furniture in them yet. “You can stay in my room for tonight and we can get furniture tomorrow, or you can sleep on the couch if you’d prefer.”

“Can… can I stay with you?” Jinwoo asked hesitantly. MJ smiled wide.

“Thank god, I was hoping you’d want to,” He turned his smile to Jinwoo, who returned it. “Let’s order dinner, yeah? I don’t have much in the way of food, but we can get groceries tomorrow.”

“That sounds… so domestic.” Jinwoo’s smile widened at the thought.

“Perfect!” MJ hugged Jinwoo from behind, giddy at the feeling of having a friend living with him after being alone for so long.

“Are you alright?” Jinwoo asked, turning to face his friend. MJ didn’t remove his arms from around Jinwoo’s waist, so their faces were inches from each other.

“What?”

“You’re crying…” Jinwoo reached up and gently wiped Myungjun’s cheeks. He quickly took his arms back and dried his tears with his sleeves, chuckling awkwardly.

“I didn’t even notice,” his smile was watery. “I just… I’m really happy.”

“Me too hyung.” Jinwoo gave a genuine smile, and it was as if the house was suddenly a home.

* * *

  
“Is that okay with you?” Jinwoo asked, worried. He didn’t mean to make Myungjun uncomfortable with his suggestion. MJ stared at him with large eyes that were growing more and more glassy with each passing moment.

“Me? Is that okay with you?” MJ shot back, sounding shocked.

“Last night…” Jinwoo trailed off, rubbing the back of his head. “I can’t remember the last time I slept that well. I could feel you next to me and it made me feel safe… for the first time in my life, I wasn’t afraid to fall asleep. Back home, my dad could come in at any time and hurt me. Back at the apartment, anyone could have broken in. It was a bad area and my lock was literally a chain that I looped on a hat hook. If it’s okay with you… yeah, I’d really like to stay with you… I could get a separate bed if you don’t want to share-”

“I don’t mind!” MJ said quickly. In all honesty, sleeping next to Jinwoo made him feel safe as well. “It’s a king sized bed, and I’m a fun sized guy. Even with both of us the bed is huge.”

“Are you saying I’m fun sized too?” Jinwoo asked with mock anger. “I’m almost average, thank you very much.”

“We could be two kids in a trench coat for Halloween.” MJ giggled, trying to imagine how that would play out.

“Only if I got to be on top.” Jinwoo snorted as they started to unload the groceries.

“You can top me whenever you want.” Myungjun shot Jinwoo a wink, causing the other boy to drop the bag of potatoes he was pulling from the brown paper bag.

“Hyung…” Jinwoo blushed bright red, and Myungjun began plotting all the other ways he could get his new friend to blush.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These are a little shorter than I'm used to my chapters being, but I don't want to stretch them out too much. I can't guarentee how often this fic in particular will update, but I will be posting other fics along with chapter for this frequently, so look forward to that!
> 
> Also, tell me what you think about the summary. I've been wanting to change it, but I don't know to what. I want to draw more people's attention, but I don't know how.
> 
> Anyway, who do you think is next? Blackcat, with his intuition and luck? Time Skip, with his ability to manipulate time? Or Rocky, with superhuman strength and a temper to match? Comment who you want to learn more about next!


	3. Black Cat

“Dongmin, what are you doing?” His mother asked, wondering why her son was tugging on her hand. She looked to see what had caught his attention and smiled. The toddler was staring intently at a booth at the fair, the kind where you put a coin on a number and the person running the game spun the wheel. If the wheel just happened to land on your number, you got a prize - the catch? The numbers went 1-50, with a white side and a blue side meaning there was a one in one hundred chance of winning.

Dongmin tugged on her hand again, his little face twisted in concentration. She laughed and let the boy drag her to the game. The man running it smiled widely as they approached.

“One quarter per play,” He said, his smile never faltering. “Just place it on the number you think will win and let fate decide!”

“Just one round.” She told Dongmin, handing the boy a shiny coin. She had to pick him up so he could reach the counter. He stared at the numbers for ten seconds before slamming the coin down on the blue seven.

“Ready?” The man asked to the small crowd around the stall. At least ten other people had placed coins down and were crossing their fingers. He spun the wheel, which kept going to an oddly long amount of time. It started to slow, and much to her amazement the little red arrow pointed right to the blue seven.

“Looks like we have a winner! What would you like?”

“The panda!” Dongmin shouted, jumping up and down in excitement. The man grinned down at the toddler as he handed the plush over.

“Come on now Minnie, we’re meeting your dad at the ferris wheel-”

“One more? Please?” Dongmin begged. His mother sighed and helped him place another coin down. She was always weak to her son’s begging. Dongmin was such a well behaved child that when he asked for something, she had a hard time saying no.

The second time, Dongmin picked white thirty three.

Just like the first time, the wheel landed on white thirty three.

“Quite a lucky boy you got there ma’am.” The man said, sounding strained. Dongmin picked a pink rabbit plush, which he instantly handed to his mom.

“For you!” He said, his eyes sparkling. She took it with a warm smile. “Can we play again?”

“I’m sorry, we have a two win limit.” The man said quickly. Dongmin’s mom frowned. She knew there was no win limit, but she could also see how he was side eyeing her son.

“Come on Minnie, let’s go show off our new toys.” She said softly, and Dongmin cheered. He gripped the panda tightly in one hand as the other held onto the hem of his mom’s skirt.

That night, she realized her son was special, but she didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.

* * *

  
Dongmin stared down at his test. He had completely forgotten to study the night before because his friend Minho had come over with the complete second season of their favorite show, and they stayed up until almost two watching it.

The words seemed to swim and Dongmin found himself panicking a little. He took a deep breath to calm himself down and worked through the multiple choice the best way he knew how: Process of elimination.

He read the question and knew right off the bat answers A and C weren’t right. Those were answers from the last test. That left B and D. He felt an itch in the back of his head and quickly filled in B without rereading the answer.

It continued like that until he finished the multiple choice. The second section was fill in the blank, and thankfully he had been given a wordbank, unlike the last time. He easily filled in the answers he knew for sure, but there were still five that were blank.

He knew one of the answers had to belong to one of two questions, which were worded very much alike save a small difference that would change the entire answer. The itch came back, telling him to put it for the second question. The itch pointed him where each of the other answers should go, as if it was nudging Dongmin in the right direction.

The final section was open ended, which was always Dongmin’s least favorite. He was always just a little off with his answers and always got at least one point taken off because it wasn’t exactly what the teacher wanted from him.

He struggled through the rest of the test, putting down random answers and hoping he would get lucky enough that he wouldn’t fail. He stood and realized he was the first one done. He sighed and turned the paper in, not wanting to look at it for even a second longer. Dongmin all but sprinted from the classroom where his friend was waiting by the library.

“You’re done already?” Minho looked up from his book, surprised.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Dongmin huffed as he flopped down into the seat across from his friend. “I guessed on half of it.”

“Yeah, but your guesses are almost always right,” the other boy smirked. “I’m telling you, we should get a lottery ticket.”

“We’re underage, idiot.” Dongmin scoffed, shaking his head with a smile.

“Yeah, but Chan hyung isn’t.” Mischief sparkled in Minho’s eyes, and Dongmin felt his stomach drop.

“You know why I won’t do the lottery.” Dongmin said quietly, and Minho deflated.

“Right… sorry for pushing it.” he said, looking at his book as if he had been scolded. Dongmin frowned and sighed again.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” He said, hoping to drop the subject.

When his parents realized what his power actually was, they sat him down for a talk. Seven year old Dongmin didn’t really understand that he wasn’t in trouble, and that they were trying to prevent him from getting into trouble later in life. They told him it was very important not to use his powers for selfish reasons, and that if he did he would become clouded with greed and lose himself. The thought was scary enough to the child, and it didn’t help that his overactive imagination made him believe he would physically become a monster. Now he knew better, that he wouldn’t turn into a beast if he used his powers to win money, but he knew he could fall victim to it. His family had a history of gambling addictions. His uncle on his dad’s side was in jail for it, and his own father had gone through his own struggles as a teenager. That, mixed with the fact that Dongmin would almost never lose, made for a dangerous cocktail.

“Anyway,” Minho said, thankfully changing the subject. “Hyungin and I were going to go to the mall and take obnoxious pictures in all the stores. You wanna come?”

“Always.” Dongmin grinned.

* * *

  
As Dongmin went through high school, he learned to keep his powers on the down low. He would purposely get a few questions wrong on tests. He would let the ball hit him on purpose in gym, and would purposely let himself get hurt in lab, just so it didn’t seem like he was perfect. In middle and elementary school, he didn’t try to hide it and had gotten detention for cheating more than once. He just wanted to be normal.

As graduation approached, he was faced with a dilemma. He knew he had to take the entrance exam for university, but he wasn’t used to taking exams truthfully. Though, had he ever taken a test truthfully? He always had that itch that urged him in the right direction that he then had to ignore and purposely get things wrong to seem normal.

What if he took the test without purposely getting things wrong? What if he did put the wrong answers down, but went too far and failed the test?

He stressed about what to do up until the moment of the test. As soon as he flipped the paper over, his mind went blank. He only realized he was halfway through the exam when he got a papercut on his finger from turning the page too quickly.

Dongmin started panicking. He rushed through the rest of the test, not sure which questions he answered right and which ones he answered wrong. He handed the paper in and ran from the room, not even noticing that he was the first one done again. He made a beeline for the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror.

He was about to graduate, but what was he going to do with his life? Sure, he was pretty but he didn’t have any real skills. Minho had already been accepted into a prestigious dance academy across the country. He had his life planned out. His parents wanted him to go into medicine. What would be better than a surgeon that was unusually lucky? Think of all the lives you could save, they told him over and over.

But he didn’t want to be a doctor.

He didn’t know what he wanted.

Dongmin took a deep breath and left the bathroom, not sure what was going to happen next.

* * *

  
“What?” Dongmin felt his body go numb. He didn’t know what to expect when he and his parents were called in to talk to the principle, but this was the last thing he had even considered happening.

“I’m sorry, but we have no choice but to expel your son,” The principle said with a sad expression. “I received his test score from the university entrance exam and… I’m sorry to say there’s virtually no way for anyone to get a perfect score without cheating, especially not in under twenty minutes. Now, if Dongmin had showed grades like this through his time here, we might have let it slide, but is grades were… for lack of a better term, average. I’m sorry, but we cannot allow cheating on the entrance exam. If he wishes to earn his diploma, he will have to transfer to another school and repeat his senior year.”

Dongmin was shaking. He hadn’t cheated, had he? He never meant to cheat. He really did study, but he had panicked. He looked up at the man, silent tears running down his cheeks. He was shaking.

“Sir, please-” he choked out, wanting to explain himself, but his father placed a hand on his leg.

“It’s okay Minnie,” He said softly. Dongmin started to shake harder. “We’ll figure something out. Thank you for your time sir.”

They walked to the car in silence. Dongmin knew why they didn’t let him explain, but it still hurt. He was so close to graduating, and now he was going to have to retake his last year at a different school?

He knew why no one could know about his powers. His parents made it quite clear. If anyone found out, they would try to use him. Use him for his luck, for his intuition. They would try to take advantage of Dongmin’s good nature to get what they wanted, and it wouldn’t have been the first time.

Dongmin remembered when his uncle got arrested. He had been ten years old. They were at a family event - what event exactly he couldn’t remember. A birthday? Holiday? - and his uncle had cornered him, trying to get the boy to tell him the numbers for the next lottery drawing. He said he was all out of money, and that his wife would leave if Dongmin didn’t help him win. He had taken Dongmin’s thin shoulders in his beefy hands and shook him hard. So hard, in fact, that Dongmin’s head slammed against the wall behind him. The boy’s vision started to go black just as he heard his mother screaming.

He never saw his uncle after that.

He was arrested on counts of child abuse, fraud and murder. He had killed a man in a dispute over a gamble, and wanted the money to buy off the man’s family.

Dongmin and his family drove in silence, all thinking about the next course of action.

* * *

  
His parents enrolled him in the high school directly outside of town. It was only a fifteen minute drive from their house, but it was a far distance compared to the ten minute walk to his old school.

He ignored the texts and calls from Minho. He couldn’t bring himself to explain to his friend what happened. He didn’t even know how he would explain without revealing everything in the process.

Dongmin sat on his bed, not sure what to do. His parents weren’t mad at him. After he explained that he just panicked, they understood and helped him apply to a new school. They didn’t ground him, but sat him down and had another talk about the dangers of letting his powers be known. He understood, but still felt scolded.

The itch was pushing him to do something, but he didn’t know what. He stood and put on his shoes. That seemed to make the itch almost… happy? He grabbed his car keys and got in his car. He had no idea where he was going, but he needed to go.

So Dongmin drove. He didn’t know where he was going, but he turned when he felt he should until the itch in the back of his head practically screamed at him to park. He did, and realized he was at a shady bar. He started to put his park into reverse, but something inside him screamed at him to go inside.

He didn’t know why, but something was going to happen in that bar that was going to change everything.

Dongmin sighed and made sure to triple check that he locked up before going up to the door. There was no bouncer, or anyone to check his ID, which he found disturbing. What kind of area was he in?

“Hey there,” A slight, cat-like man said as he walked in. “You look lost.”

“I… Maybe?” he winced at how unsure he sounded.

“Hm, here let me get you something,” The man said. He turned to the bartender and Dongmin saw his ears were pierced all the way up, and that he had a large tattoo on the back of his neck. He couldn’t see exactly what it was, but he could see wings curling around the man’s slender throat. “Here. Drink up.”

Dongmin took the cup handed to him in shock, but looked at the liquid inside skeptically. The man noticed his look and laughed.

“Don’t worry kid, it’s not poison,” He smiled, and Dongmin realized his smile was really calming somehow. “And it’s not alcohol either. You’re obviously underage. It’s sprite and grenadine. Try it. I promise it’s good.”

When the itch in the back of his head didn’t say anything, Dongmin took a hesitant sip. He was happily surprised.

“What brings you here kid?” The man asked when he saw Dongmin relax a little. Dongmin looked up from his drink with wide eyes. He almost forgot where he was.

“Um, just a hunch.” he said, hoping the man would drop it, but he didn’t.

“Ah, future sight?” He asked casually. Dongmin froze. “Nah, sounds more like heightened intuition.”

For the first time since walking in, Dongmin felt afraid.

“How- how did you-?” He stuttered. No one could know about his powers. The man just looked at him and smiled softly.

“This place,” he said slowly, looking around. “This place is special. Like us. We like to joke that the building itself has some sort of power, to call people here when they need it the most.”

“Why am I here then?” he asked, more to himself than to the man.

“What’s your name kid?” the man asked, quirking one manicured eyebrow.

“Dongmin,” He said, sticking his free hand out. “And yours?”

“You know, you should come up with a fake name,” he said, taking his hand. “But since you gave me your real name, I’ll give you mine. I’m Jiyong, but here I go by G-Dragon. You’re safe here Dongmin, but out there? Normal people don’t take too kindly to people like us.”

“People like us?” Dongmin breathed. He had never met another person with a power before, and by the way Jiyong was talking it was safe to assume everyone in the bar had some power or another.

“I can read the thoughts of the people around me,” He said easily, as if commenting on the weather. “TOP over there can shapeshift. My buddy Taeyang behind the bar can detect poisons. Bartending was a good career choice for him honestly. I have another friend, Dae. He can see through things, like x-ray vision. My little brother Seungri can change the mood in a room depending on how he’s feeling. He’s always fun to have at parties,” Jiyong chuckled fondly. “Except when he gets rejected. Then everything is sad.”

“Are there that many people with powers?” Dongmin asked, shocked.

“More than you think.” Jiyong sipped his drink. “We tend to hide our powers. Society feels threatened by things that are different, so we flock together and stick to ourselves. I wouldn’t be too shocked if I was the first person with powers you really met.”

“You are…”

“You’re welcome here anytime Dongmin. This place… no one can hurt you here. No one will judge you for what you can or can’t do. We’re a family here,”

Jiyong smiled at the boy, and for once in his life, Dongmin felt like he could actually take a full breath. “Come on kid, let me introduce you to the others.”

* * *

  
Dongmin found himself going back to the bar when he could. His parents never asked where he was going. It had become a habit. Work in the morning, go to the bar in the evening. He became close to the people there.One woman, who went by the name CL and had the ability to hypnotize people with her voice, gave him the name Eunwoo one night, when she realized he was still using his birth name.

“It’s a scary world out there baby,” She had said, hugging Dongmin close. He thought he would suffocate from having his face pressed against her chest, but the familiarity felt nice. He felt like he belonged. “We gotta protect each other, you know? Can’t let the normies hurt our baby boy.”

“Ya, leave the kid alone,” GD said with a smirk. “He’s going to die from your tits at this rate.”

“One of these days you’ll learn to respect me.” She growled at the man, who just laughed. Jiyong was the only one that had the ability to talk to her that way.

In a way, it made Dongmin’s chest warm.

Sure, he had friends before but there was always a layer of separation between them. A lie that kept them from fully connecting. Here, he felt like he truly belonged.

That night, it was fairly packed. Despite knowing all the regulars, there were a decent amount of people Dongmin had ever seen before. He was a little anxious, but the atmosphere was warm and comforting.

“Hey! No fair!” A voice Dongmin didn’t recognize shouted from the corner of the bar. He looked up and saw a short boy with large eyes looking scandalized.

The man across from him was laughing and holding up a winning hand of cards. “One more round!”

“Come on MJ, you’ve lost three times already,” GD laughed. “You’re lucky we don’t bet money here. Otherwise you’d be broke.”

“One more round.” The boy - MJ - said, puffing his cheeks up. He sat down and angrily reshuffled the cards.

Curiosity got the best of Dongmin and he want to watch the game. One look at MJ’s hand and Dongmin knew he was going to lose on his own.

“Fold.” He whispered into the other boy’s ear. MJ froze before following his orders. Dongmin walked him through every step of the game, and somehow MJ managed to win. He stared at the man across from him in shock before jumping to his feet.

“I won!’ He shouted happily. “I finally won!”

“Yeah, yeah, but you also lost how many times?” The man asked with a good natured laugh.

“None of that matters! I won!” MJ grinned and Dongmin found his smile to be contagious. He turned to Dongmin and gave him a huge hug. He quickly let go and started to walk away. Before Dongmin knew what he was doing, he had reached out and snagged his jacket sleeve. MJ turned back and looked at him questioningly. He didn’t know why, but Dongmin couldn’t let him leave just yet.

“Eunwoo.” he said suddenly, shocking himself a little. “That’s my name.”

“Eunwoo,” He repeated his name and smiled wider. “You wanna come over my place? I want you to meet my friend.”

“Um,” Dongmin was thinking of an excuse when he realized the itch in the back of his head was almost singing. “Sure. I just have to at work by 11 tomorrow.”

“Yay!” MJ cheered and gave Dongmin directions to his house. It was far, according to his phone, almost five hours away, but MJ promised it wasn’t that bad. It was the bar, he said. It was like a halfway point. Time, distance… none of it mattered there.

“How…?” Dongmin tried to reason it, but it just didn’t make sense.

“It shows up for those who need it,” MJ said easily. “It doesn’t care how far away you are. It’s always there for you.”

True to his word, the drive to the house was barely twenty minutes. Dongmin was hours away from home, but it only took twenty minutes.

Maybe the bar really did have powers of its own…

“Eunwoo, this is Jinwoo,” MJ said with a wide smile. “He’s my roommate! I met him at the bar.”

“Nice to meet you.” Jinwoo held out his hand.

“Actually it’s Dongmin,” He said, taking the other boy’s hand. “I go by Eunwoo there.”

“Then, it’s nice to meet you Dongmin.” Jinwoo smiled and it lit up the room.

“Come on! I ordered dinner!” MJ bounced into the room. Dongmin didn’t really fit in at home, but here?

Here he felt safe.

* * *

  
“So what are you going to do?” Jinwoo asked as they finished their dinner. Dongmin had explained what had happened at school, and the two older boys looked sad for him.

“I don’t know,” He sighed and put his bowl down. “I guess I’ll just work the summer and restart the year in the fall.”

“You know, there’s an online program to help you get your high school degree,” MJ said casually. “Jinwoo did it a little bit ago. He ran away from home before he could graduate too.”

“I didn’t run away…” Dongmin said softly, wondering if his parents were worried about him yet.

“That’s okay too,” MJ smiled warmly. “If you wanted, there’s a really good college around here. You could stay here and get your diploma, then go to university. Since it’s a college town, there are a lot of places hiring kids too.”

“I’ll have to talk to my parents…” Dongmin murmured, but the idea made his eyes sparkle. He had been wanting to move away from his parent’s gaze, and something was telling him this was why he was brought to the bar in the first place.

“If you want, I’ll talk to them for you.” MJ offered, almost buzzing from excitement. Dongmin grinned, somehow knowing the future was going to be very, very interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I jotted down ideas in my notebook, this chapter looked to be the shortest, but it managed to be the longest so far! I have a lot of suggestions, so this one might not update for a bit but the next chapter is going to be long and angsty :3  
> Up next? Time Skip.


	4. Time Skip

It all happened so fast that Bin never saw it coming. The sound of screaming filled his ears, but he didn't know where it was coming from. All he could feel was pain. He looked down and saw his seat belt cutting into his chest. There was blood running down his neck, staining his shirt. He wanted to unbuckle the belt and get out, but his hand wouldn’t move. He looked to his right and saw his arm was crushed between the folded metal of the door.

He started screaming.

Bin looked to his left and screamed louder. His sister was staring lifelessly, her face covered in blood. The window had shattered and embedded glass in her soft cheeks.

“Mom! Dad!” Bin screamed, trying to free the mangled mess that was once his arm. There was no response. He could see his mom in the passenger seat, her head low with crimson dripping from her forehead. The airbags were deflating, but his parents weren’t moving. His dad was nowhere to be seen, the drivers side of the car completely folded in. All that was left was a hand, seperate from the body, his dad’s wedding ring glistening against the blood covering the ashy skin.

Bin screamed until he tasted metal in the back of his throat, but there was nothing he could do. No one would find him - at least, not until morning. The road they were on was woodsy, with no streetlights and very few cars.

Something swelled in his chest, and Bin thought that this was what dying felt like. This was what his mom and dad and sister felt moments before. The feeling grew and Bin felt like his chest was going to burst open.

Things started moving.

Slowly at first, but getting faster and faster. Glass dislodged from his sister’s cheek and settled back into the frame of the window. The car moved backwards, the metal frame undenting like those reversed vidoes Bin loved watching so much. The airbags were sucked back into the dashboard and the blood retreated back into closing wounds. Bin could feel his arm be reconstructed as the car unfolded around it. Time kept reversing until they were a fair distance down the road.

Bin stared out the front windshield in horror.

“Watch out for the deer!” He screamed, startling his dad. He slammed on the breaks just in time for a large buck to sprint across the road. If they had hit it, they would have swerved off the road, into the side of a mountain where they would have all died.

“Bin, you almost gave me a heart attack,” His dad said, pulling over and putting the car in park. “How did you even see that?”

“I… I saw it’s eyes in the trees,” Bin lied, a sinking feeling in his chest. “And I know how dangerous this road can be...”

“Good call Binnie,” His dad said, putting the car back into drive and getting back on the road. “Keep those sharp eyes out in case you see anything else.”

“Will do.” Bin said faintly, looking out the window. His eyes fell to his arm, flexing his fingers a few times to solidify the fact that it was real.

He did that. He reversed time and saved the lives of his family.

He had powers now.

His family hated people with powers. They said it was an abomination. That people who had powers were trying to play God, and that they would be dammed for trying to be something they aren’t.

His family would hate him if they ever found out.

Bin looked out the window, promising himself that he would never let them know.

* * *

  
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Bin found his sister sobbing in her room. She immediately opened her arms, motioning for her big brother to hug her. Thankfully at eight she still wanted affection from her older brother

“Daddy said I’m not allowed to play with Rin anymore.” She sniffled and Bin felt his stomach drop. Rin and his sister were inseparable - basically attached at the hip. They spent almost every day together, either at their house or at Rin’s, and Rin even spent Christmas with their family one year when her mom was sick.

“Why did he say that?” Bin asked, knowing the answer before she even responded.

“She- she got a power…. She can t-talk to animals now… Daddy says she’s going to become a bad person. That… that powers corrupt people…”

“Dad… is only saying what he thinks is right,” Bin hesitated. He didn’t want to turn his sister against his parents, especially at such a young age, but he was afraid of her growing up in such a toxic mindset. “It’s up to you to decide whether or not you think those people are bad. Promise me you’re going to make your own decisions, and not blindly listen to whatever you’re told.”

“I promise Binnie oppa,” She sniffled, curling up in his lap. Bin’s heart shattered. Even with his own powers, there was no way to stop his sister from hurting. Not this time. “I’m sleepy…”

“Oppa has you bunny, you can nap.” he whispered, running a hand over her back. She only sighed before her eyes slipped shut and Bin felt steady breaths hitting his arm.

He held his sister, blinking back tears that no one could ever see.

* * *

  
“Oh fuck…” Bin stared at the mug in his mom’s hand in horror. He didn’t mean to do it, honestly. When he saw the ceramic shatter on the floor, hot coffee splashing on his mom’s bare leg and burning her, he acted without a second thought.

He rewound time, and the mug flew backwards, the coffee refilling the cup as it settled in her outstretched hand.

“B-binnie…” She said, her eyes wide.

“Mom…” Bin’s face went white. “It’s- it’s not what it looks like-”

“You have powers?” She whispered in horror, her eyes flashing from his face to something directly behind him.

Before Bin could answer, he was thrown to the ground. His father stood over him, the man’s eyes practically glowing red.

“No son of mine is going to be damned.” He growled, reaching to grab Bin by the hair. Bin acted without thinking a second time, letting his powers loose and rewinding time much more than just a few seconds of a concentrated space.

Out of desperation, Bin rewound time entirely. His father walked out of the room, backwards. He watched as the scene with the mug - being dropped then reversed - reverse itself entirely. He dropped the rewind when he saw his mother pouring the coffee into the mug, back at the counter. A time before he even entered the room.

“Oh! Bin, you gave me a heart attack!” His mom said as she turned and saw him in the doorway of the kitchen. She gripped the handle of the mug tight, the contents safe.

“S-sorry mom, didn’t realize how quiet I was being.” Bin said faintly, a ringing in his ears making him feel dizzy.

“Are you alright Binnie? You look pale.” She put the mug down and tested his forehead with the back of her hand.

“I’m fine…” He tried to brush her off, but the second he moved the room started to spin.

“Fine my ass,” She muttered, looking concerned. There was no resemblance to the woman that gave him the look of absolute terror and disgust before. “You’re not going to school today. March your butt back up to your room and go back to sleep, you hear me? And I’ll know if you try to push yourself.”

“Okay.” Bin didn’t put up a fight. He was able to make it to his bed before the world went dark, and he fell unconscious.

* * *

  
It was getting easier, physically at least.

The first few times his family found out and Bin had to reverse time, it left him bedridden for days with a fever, unable to keep anything down.

Now, it just left him winded.

Bin lost track of how many times he had to reverse time to make his family forget about his powers. It all happened over little things.

His sister fell off her bike and he healed her knee. She screamed in fear and tried to run away from him. He had to reverse time and let her fall - let her cry and bleed and let their mom bandage her knee.

His dad slipped while cutting carrots and cut his finger completely off. There was so much blood, and Bin only thought enough to fix the immediate problem. He reversed time just enough that he didn’t slip, but he was furious. He had to reverse time even more, and take the knife away from the man before the accident happened.

So many times he accidentally slipped up, letting his powers show through little things and having to rewind time so that his family stayed blissfully ignorant.

It killed him, hiding from his family. As his sister grew, she forgot her promise to him and began spouting the same hate as their parents.

The toll it took on him wore away at him every day, to the point where he joined three different clubs just to stay away from home. The less time he spent with the people who raised him, the less stress he was under.

He didn’t think much when one of the members in his journalism club disappeared. He didn’t know the guy all that well, and heard rumors that he had been expelled for cheating which confused him because he seemed like a good kid. Min something? He didn’t remember. There was a lot he couldn’t remember recently.

His perception of time was getting worse and worse. He would miss assignments because he believed he still had weeks to complete it, when in reality they were due the day before. He would wake up from a nap, not knowing what day it was - the first time that happened, it took him almost three hours before he was able to understand that it was indeed the same day as when he fell asleep. Weeks seemed to pass by like hours, and hours seemed to pass in months. Time in itself became a lie to him, and it was driving him insane. What day was it? Who was he? Did he even really exist?

“Bin, we’re worried about you…” His mother said softly one day. Bin didn’t know when it was. Was it months after the accident? Years? How old was he? He was eleven again, fresh from the car crash but- no, he was eighteen, almost graduating high school… right?

“You’ve been spacing out, your grades are dropping, you barely seem to know what’s going on around you,” His father said, putting a hand on Bin’s shoulder. Bin blinked up at him. Was this conversation still going on? He thought it happened yesterday, or last month. He wasn’t sure. “Are… are you doing drugs Bin?”

“W-what?” Bin snapped back to himself, the shock sudden enough to break him out of his trance.

“We need you to be honest with us son,” His dad said, his jaw tightening. “We want to be able to get you help.”

“I’m not... on drugs,” He said slowly, trying to ground himself. “I guess I just haven’t been sleeping well. School is stressing me out a lot… you can search my room if you want.”

“We believe you Binne.” His mom smiled wide, tears glinting in her eyes. She gathered her son in her arms and held him tight.

“We’re just worried about you,” His dad said, patting him on the back. “If you have any worries, you can come to us. We’re your parents, and we’ll love you no matter what.”

Bin broke. How many times had his parents tried to kick him out? Disown him? Tried to beat the powers out of him?

“Oh Binnie, we love you.” His mom whispered, making him cry even harder.

* * *

  
Bin found a way to ground himself.

After his parents confronted him, he realized he needed to get his shit together. Part of him understood the way he was feeling was because he was overusing his powers. It was the only thing that made sense. He manipulated time so often that it was now manipulating him - punishing for treating the passage of time like a toy.

He was home alone, trying to make himself dinner before he slipped back into the cloud of timelessness. He had been scolded that morning when his mom realized he hadn’t eaten in almost to days. It wasn’t that he was trying to starve himself, he didn’t realize time had passed - didn’t realize two days had come and gone. To him, it only felt like a few hours. She lectured him and left a note reminding him to eat.

Every few minutes - days? Weeks? - Bin had to glance over at the note to remind him what he was doing.

“Shit!” He hissed, holding his bleeding finger away from the cutting board. The slice on his finger was dripping crimson and he stared at it for a few seconds before grabbing a paper towel and wrapping it around the wound.

Wait…

Bin looked at the clock and was able to track the passage of time normally.

His finger throbbed.

Bin’s eyes widened.

He went to the bathroom and bandaged his finger, a grin working its way onto his face as he went. Time went… normally. He felt normal again.

Bin went to his room and dug out his pencil sharpener. He knew it was wrong, but he knew people from school that had silvery and pink lines along their wrists. They learned about it in health briefly, and talked about it in psychology class before. Self harm was a byproduct of mental illness. Those who were mentally ill would turn to pain to cope with things in their lives that they couldn’t control.

He never understood how pain could help anything, but now he got it. He knew it was wrong, but it would keep him focused and in the present, it was a risk he was willing to take. The idea of floating in time for even a second longer - unable to comprehend how many days have passed or if he was even real, unable to know when he was or if he was even existing fully - was scarier than anything a simple blade could do to him.

The clock in the hallway chimed five times. His family wouldn’t be home for another two hours at least. He felt almost giddy that he could gauge that.

Bin slid his sweatpants down and didn’t hesitate to swipe at the skin of his thigh. The blade sang through his skin like it was created to ground Moon Bin specifically. The bubble of the blood made him gasp, but for the first time in who knows how long, his mind was clear. He was able to breathe. He was whole again.

He haphazardly taped gauze to cover his cuts and pulled his pants back up, feeling like he could take on the world. His blood seemed to buzz and he couldn’t stop the smile that stretched across his face.

Bin danced downstairs and made himself dinner. It was one of the most delicious things he had ever eaten, and he took his sweet time enjoying it.

* * *

  
“You seem different…” His sister said one day. It had been thirty seven days since he first hurt himself. He knew that. The knowledge made him giddy.

“You’re being silly.” he grinned at her and ruffled her hair. She pouted and tried to fix her bangs, which their parents reluctantly let her get on her thirteenth birthday.

“Seriously oppa, you’ve been acting weird.”

“You’re just imagining it.” He laughed and checked his phone.

“Something is up with you, and I’m going to find out what.” She narrowed her eyes at him and he just smiled at her again.

Little did he know she was going to expose him in a way he could never reverse his way out of.

* * *

  
“Oppa…”

“What’s up?” Bin looked up from his computer, his paper almost finished. His first college midterms were about to start and he was swamped with papers. His parents convinced him to go to community, which he was grateful for.

“I know what you are.” she said quietly, stepping into the room and closing the door behind her.

“Stressed? Overworked? The most handsome guy you know? We’ve all known this.” He snickered.

Time started to smear again. He scratched his thigh, reopening the cuts from the night before, playing it off as though he just had an itch.

“You have powers.” She said, and Bin felt his stomach drop.

“Y-you’re crazy,” He ground out, his heartbeat running so fast that he felt dizzy. “If course I don’t have powers. Mom and Dad would disown me.”

“I saw you. Last week,” She kept a distance between her and Bin, looking at her brother as if he was a dangerous animal. “You d-dropped your phone and shattered the screen. Then… it just reversed and it was fine again. No one else saw but… but I did... “

“It’s not what it looked like-” Bin was shaking.

“How could you?” Tears were running down her cheeks.

“I didn’t have a choice,” He said, his voice shaking quietly. “You have to believe me. I never wanted this…”

“How long?”

“Since you were five? Six?” he answered honestly. She gasped. “We were in an accident, on the way home from dinner… Dad hit a deer and slammed into the mountain… My arm was crushed. You were killed. Mom was killed… I couldn’t even see Dad’s body. It was so ripped up from the metal. The only part of him that was left was his hand. I didn’t even know it was me until it was over… I had to watch everyone’s body fit back together. Watch your blood reverse back into you… I thought I was going to throw up.”

“H-how did you hide this from us?” She looked horrified, but Bin wasn’t sure if it was because he had powers or because of the story.

“Anytime one of you found out, I reversed time completely to before you saw,” He said, his voice strained. “That’s why I was sick all the time… reversing or accelerating concentrated areas isn’t hard. I could fix a broken cup or heal a cut without breaking a sweat but reversing all time? It fucked me up. I was never on drugs, like mom and dad thought… I had to reverse time so often that my sense of time got… fucked. That’s the best way I can explain it. Seconds felt like hours and days felt like minutes. It got to the point where I felt like I didn’t even really exist - that I wasn’t really here. None of us were really here, and that everything was spinning around to the point where you couldn’t focus on anything.”

“Why would you hide this?” She was openly crying. She took a step forward, closing the gap between them.

“Dad’s tried to beat the power out of me so many times that I lost track,” He ignored the horrified gasp his sister let out. “They threatened to disown me, send me to a mental hospital… the one time dad managed to get a hit in, he shattered my cheekbone. That took a lot of effort to reverse, and and after I passed out for almost a day and a half. Or, that’s how long mom said I was out. It felt like years to me…”

“Oppa…”

“You can’t tell them,” He said, looking up suddenly. “If they find out-”

“How can I keep this a secret?” She shot back. “Powers are- they’re evil! People with powers are corrupt!”

“You think I wanted this?” Bin felt himself yelling but he couldn’t stop. “You think if I had a choice, I would have PICKED to hide from my family? To tear myself apart just so my fuckin dad doesn’t break my jaw the next time he found out?”

“Bin oppa, you’re scaring me…”

“Get out,” he growled, trying to think of a way to fix this. Something inside of him knew if he tried to reverse all the way to the moment that his sister found out, it would kill him. But… would that really be so bad? “I said get out!”

She yelped and scurried from the room, tears streaming down her face. Bin stared at his open door, his chest burning. He jumped to his feet, doing the only thing he could do.

Even if his sister could keep his secret, it was only a matter of time before their parents found out, and that would just hurt her along with him.

Bin slammed his door shut and ripped his duffle bag from his closet.He had played with the idea a few times, but never thought he could go through with it. He started shoving his favorite clothes into the bag, cramming as much as he possibly could into the medium sized bag - a pair of sneakers, two pair of jeans, some thin shirts, a single hoodie, as much underwear and socks as he could fit and two beanies. Once the duffle was filled to the seams, he dumped out his school bag and repacked it with the essentials. His laptop and charger, all the cash he had tucked away, his wallet and passport, his favorite paperback novel. He saw his overnight kit on his desk - a pencil case with a toothbrush, a travel sized toothpaste, a small brush, a bottle of face wash, a handful of bandaids and some tampons for his sister and female friends when they needed them. He threw that in the backpack as well. As a second thought, he grabbed the tissue wrapped blade, disguised as a dirty napkin, from behind some books.

He looked around his room, trying to blink back burning tears. Just as he was about to leave, he grabbed something off his corkboard and tucked it in his novel. Even if he was running away, he wanted at least one photo of his family. He hesitated and wrote a short note, leaving it in the middle of his bed where it would be instantly seen.

The sound of his sister sobs echoed though the hallway as he slipped down the stairs. He stopped at his father’s study, hesitating before going inside. His dad was at work, and wouldn’t be home until late. He knew where his dad stashed extra cash - for delivery tips and gas money. Was he really going to…? Bin steeled his nerves.

He went to the ceiling high bookshelf and took out the book he knew was hallow. Inside was about $200 in small-ish bills, along with some jewelry and the spare keys to the cars. Bin took the money, leaving the keys and the bracelets.

Bin looked around at his childhood home one last time before closing the front door one last time and getting in his car.

As he drove away, he saw his sister on the porch, yelling after him but he knew if he hesitated he wouldn’t be able to leave, and he knew leaving was his only option. He sped up, blowing through a stop sign and leaving his life behind for good.

He could never come back.

* * *

  
“Listen here, asshole, either give us your money or else.” The gun against his head was pressed tighter to his skin. Bin took a deep breath.

“Listen, I already told you I don’t have any money.” He ground out, feeling a little more than irritated.

After he left home, he drove in a random direction for a couple of hours until his check engine light came on. Knowing full well that he didn’t have enough to get it fixed, Bin quickly sold the car off to the first person willing to spend a grand on the old thing. Unable to create a bank account as a runaway, he put the cash into visa cards - tucking one away in his duffle for safe keeping and writing ‘$5’ on the other to hopefully deter people from wanting to steal it.

“That’s it, I’m done playing.” The man ground out and went to pull the trigger. Bin acted, reversing time to right before he was grabbed. The man lunged for him, like he had before, but Bin was able to dance out of his reach easily.

What he hadn’t been expecting was for the man’s friend to also have a gun.

A loud bang made Bin’s ears ring, and the sharp pain that followed made him drop to his knees.

“Check him-”

“What was that?” Someone on the sidewalk said loudly. The two men panicked and ran out of the alley just as two other figures rushed in. Bin’s vision was quickly going black, but he was able to see that the newcomers weren’t scary looking. In fact, they barely looked older than him.

“Shit, he’s bleeding really bad.” The one said as Bin’s hearing started to fade. He reached up and cupped the bullet wound, trying to speed up time and heal the gushing hole in his stomach before he died. He could feel the muscle and tissue reconnecting and it was that feeling that made him lean over and throw up the small meal he managed to force down. His vision was blurry, and he could tell he wasn’t going to be able to finish healing himself before the darkness took over.

“He’s got powers…”

“Load him onto my back,” The first voice said again. “We’ll take him home.”

The last thing that Bin thought before passing out entirely is that he wished he could have prevented all of this.

* * *

  
“How are you feeling?” A voice to Bin’s right startled him. He had just opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling of a room he definitely didn’t recognize. He looked to his side and saw one of the boys that found him in the alley.

The boy looked young, with large eyes and soft brown hair. He stood and helped Bin sit up, looking lost when Bin doubled over in pain.

“Ah shit, you’re still hurt,” He muttered, eyes looking frantically around the room. “And Jinwoo went to the store… and Minnie isn’t going to be much help with this…”

“I’m fine, just give me a second.” Bin ground out. He placed his hand over the wound again, almost shocked to find tight bandaging wrapped around his torso. He would have been in much more pain if the pressure from the wrappings hadn’t been keeping the wound steady. He took a deep breath and started moving time around the wound. Under the bandaging, he could feel the inner damage seal up, his stomach rolling at the feeling of the skin meshing itself back together.

“B-better?” The boy asked, his eyes wide.

“Better,” Bin’s voice was rough, but he could breathe without shooting pain threatening to make him black out again. “Who are you?”

“Myungjin, but you can call me MJ if you want,” The boy said, holding out his hand. “We found you and brought you back to our house. Well, Jinwoo did. I carried your bags!

They’re over there. We didn’t go through them, if you’re worried about that. Oh, and we have powers too, so you don’t have to feel awkward around us. Minnie didn’t like having his powers known at first but he’s getting better with it.”

“Thanks…” Bin rubbed his face tiredly.

“If you’re hungry, Jinwoo should be back soonish with groceries and we can make lunch.”

“What time is it?” Bin felt… like he did before. Like time itself was wrong. His head spun and the things around him began to smear out of comprehension. How long had he been out? When did he get shot? Wait, he got shot? Why wasn’t he at home? His sister found out… how long ago? That was years ago… wasn’t it?

His head spun and he scrambled from the bed, reaching for his backpack.

“Hey, what’s wrong? You look like you’re going to pass out.” MJ followed behind him, trying to hold him back, but Bin was bigger than the other boy and was easily able to brush him off. He dug through his backpack and pulled out the little blade - the one thing that kept him sane. How long had it been since he used it? How long had it been since the first cut? Months? Years? Minutes?

“Jinwoo? Get up here!” Someone yelled, but Bin didn’t know where he was. Everything was spinning. The details of the room dimmed and Bin didn’t know who he was. Where was he? Who was he? Why was this happening? Time seemed to speed up and stand still at the exact same time as he tried to bring the blade down on his arm, but something was stopping him. Something was stopping him? There was nothing there.... How long had there been arms around him? Where was he? When was he?

“It’s okay,” A voice said into his ear. Bin felt warm as the arms held him tighter. The grip on his arms were almost painful, and his mind cleared some. “You’re okay. You’re alright now. You don’t have to hurt yourself. You’re okay.”

“What’s…” He trailed off, feeling scared. The arms held him for days on end, the warmth never fading. How was he getting warmer? The arms never loosened and the voice never stopped. How was the person able to hold him for so long? It had only been a few moments - no more than a second or two since the arms wrapped around him - Why did he think it had been days? Bin never wanted it to end-

“Are you better now?” Mj asked, kneeling in front of Bin. Bin looked down at him, his eyes wide and cheeks tacky.

“What happened?” he whispered, shaking. The arms around him tightened.

“We don’t know,” The voice behind him said. “I came in and you were trying to… to hurt yourself.”

“Oh…” Tears continued to fall as Bin began putting together the pieces. “It happened again…”

“What happened again?” Mj asked, picking up Bin’s hands and holding them firmly.

“Time went bad,” Bin whispered, feeling like a child. “I needed to ground myself.”

“Are you grounded now?” The voice behind him asked calmly.

“Yeah,” he closed his eyes and leaned back against the chest that was holding him up. “You’re really warm.”

“I’ve been told,” The voice was smiling, Bin could tell. “Wanna get some tea? Are you hungry?”

“Do you want Jinwoo to carry you?” Mj asked Bin.

“I can walk…” Bin said and he felt the arms around him loosened.

“I’ll text Minnie so he’s not shocked when he comes home,” Mj said as Bin stood shakily. He pitched forward a little, and Jinwoo instantly grabbed his arm to balance him.

“What’s your name?” Jinwoo asked as they walked down the stairs.

“Bin.”

“Come on Binnie, you must be hungry.” Jinwoo took his hand and carefully tugged him to the kitchen.

“Yeah…”

“How old are you Bin?”

“Um, nineteen.”

“That means we’re all your hyungs,” Jinwoo smiled as he started putting food into the fridge. “Hey, wanna talk?”

“About what?” Bin asked as he slipped into one of the chairs.

“About what happened just now? Or how you got in the situation where you got shot? Your accent isn’t from around here, is it?”

“Oh, um-”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Jinwoo said quickly. “We won’t judge here. None of us… none of us really came from great backgrounds. Mj hyung took us in because he thought there was something in us that’s worth saving. You- if you want to stay with us you can. We have too many rooms in this house as it is.”

“Did… did you say I could move in?” Bin was shocked.

“Is that too much?” Jinwoo looked sheepish.

“N-no, actually that saves my ass,” Bin gave the older boy a tired smile. “I… I ran away from home… I can’t go back. I was going to look for a halfway home or something. I sold my car yesterday and slept in that alley last night.”

“Yeah, no , you’re not allowed to do that again,” Jinwoo said, making the decision himself. “Hyung says you have to stay here. No more sleeping in alleys.”

“Yes hyung.” Bin found himself smiling.

“Now, I promised you tea,” Jinwoo put on the kettle on. “What are you hungry for?”

“Anything.”

“And no more hurting yourself. If you’re going to live here, we’re going to look out for you. No matter what you need, we’re family now. You don’t have to explain now, but when you’re ready we’ll be here to listen. Whatever is going on, you don’t have to hurt yourself to stay grounded. We can figure something else out.”

“Yes hyung.” Bin’s chest felt warm. He was home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is definitely the longest and most graphic so far, in my opinion. The next chapter is going to be Rocky, and I already know that one is also going to be pretty angsty. 
> 
> I wanted to say thank you to everyone who's been reading and supporting this. I know the topic is really unconventional, so having support from readers really means the world to me. I want to be able to finish this and the other two fics I'm working on entirely before the end of the month, and start the new year with a whole slew of new stories. 
> 
> If anyone has suggestions for new fics, let me know~


	5. Rocky

“Look! Minhyuk is here!” A voice sneered and Minhyuk felt his muscles tense. He was hoping to avoid these assholes, but it seems he was just a little too late to make it to class unscathed.

“Excuse me.” he said softly, trying to get through the hallway. The two boys blocked the way and slammed Minhyuk up against the wall.

“You talk like a pussy,” The one said, sneering at him. Minhyuk fought back the urge to roll his eyes. Even at age fifteen, the insults never seemed to change. “Wonder if you scream like one too.”

“Leave me alone,” Minhyuk sounded bored. “I have practice after school and I’m already ticked off as it is.”

“Oh no! He’s ticked off! Did you hear that?” The other boy leered at his friend. “Guess we’ll have to let him go!”

“Golly gee, we don’t want our dear friend being late!” They mocked him and Minhyuk felt his anger rising. He didn’t do anything to them other than exist.

“Move.” he said, pushing past them, but they just laughed and pushed him back again.

“You don’t get to order us around, pussy boy.”

“Yeah, you don’t get to order us around!” the second boy cackled, pinning Minhyuk to the lockers. Now, Minhyuk wasn’t weak, per say, but against two of the biggest guys in their school? He was severely outmatched.

“Jesus fuck what happened to your face?” His friend Yoonho asked as Minhyuk slid into his seat, twenty minutes after class started.

“Fell.” Minhyuk grunted, pulling his notebook out and beginning to copy what was already on the board.

“That’s not falling Min,” Yoonho said, frowning. “That’s getting punched in the face.”

“Drop it, Yoonho.” He warned, trying to focus on the lesson, but his head throbbed so badly that his vision was swimming.

“No, I’m not going to drop it,” his friend hissed, ignoring the warning glance from their teacher. “This is the third time this week you’ve shown up hurt. You’re my friend Minhyuk, I’m not going to let this happen anymore.”

“Yeah, well you don’t have a choice. This is going to keep happening until we graduate and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“When did this start?” Yoonho asked, anger building in his chest. Not at his friend, but at whoever decided the dancer was a good punching bag.

“I dunno… a few months ago?” Minhyuk tried to think, but his head hurt too badly. He had a mostly normal childhood. His parents were happily together and cared about him a lot. He lived in a fairly nice neighborhood, with friends around him. He got good grades - not perfect grades, but decent ones. He begged his parents to sign him up for dances lessons after seeing a street performance, and loved every moment of it. It wasn’t until a few months before that things took a turn for the worse.

The two biggest assholes in the school decided he was the perfect target. Minhyuk never gave in to their taunts, which just pissed them off even more. At first it was just name calling and notes, but it quickly escalated to physical violence when they realized their words meant nothing to Minhyuk.

“You can’t keep this up for three more years, they’ll kill you before then.”

“I’d like to see them try.” Minhyuk growled, snapping the lead from his pencil with the force he was writing.

* * *

  
“What’s going on?” Minhyuk asked himself when he walked into school the next day. Usually, the halls were loud but there was a flow of the traffic. Now, there was cheering and a ring of students in the courtyard, watching something. Minhyuk shouldered his way through the crowd and felt his blood run cold.

Yoonho was being held down by one boy as another punched him mercilessly. Minhyuk threw his bag on the ground and tackled the boy hitting Yoonho, who flew to the side. He hadn’t been expecting an attack from his side, so by the time he regained his footing, Minhyuk had already thrown a solid punch to the boy holding Yoonho down.

“Well, look who came to dance.” He grinned and cracked his knuckles. The boy holding Yoonho threw the boy to the side and advanced on Minhyuk, who was too busy staring at his friend’s motionless form to notice.

The first punch threw him onto the dirt. He felt a rock cut his cheek as he skidded against the ground, but he wasn’t down for long. He was lifted by his throat, his body instantly reacting to the lack of air. He kicked his feet, but they didn’t connect with anything. How was everyone just standing around watching this?

Minhyuk felt a fist connect with his spine, but he couldn’t cry out. His hands - which had been trying to claw the boy’s fingers from around his throat - fell limply to his side. His vision was already going fuzzy, barely even registering the hits connecting to his sides.

Just as he was wishing for unconsciousness to take him, Minhyuk felt something moving through him, almost like he had been injected with something. It moved from his core out towards his fingers and toes, filling him with a new strength he had never felt before. He lifted his hand once again and placed it on the boy’s fingers and pressed down.

A loud snapping sound filled the ring as the boy screamed in pain, his hand shattering under the sudden force. He dropped Minhyuk, who quickly sprang to his feet. His body was in agony, but he couldn’t be weak, or they would kill him.

The second boy charged at him, but Minhyuk met him head on. The boy tried to throw a punch, but Minhyuk caught it easily. He picked the boy up by his first and slammed him back down onto the ground, grinning at how he crumpled into the dirt. The crowd surrounding them went silent as they slowly realized what had happened.

Park Minhyuk, the quiet dancer boy that never really talked to anyone, just developed powers. And he used them to take down the two biggest guys in their school, one hit a piece. The crowd instantly scattered, leaving Minhyuk, Yoonho and the two boys alone.

“Yoonho!” He rushed over to his friend, who was just starting to stir. As he was about to help him up, Yoonho’s wounds started to heal right in front of their eyes. By the time Minhyuk got the other boy to his feet, there wasn’t a single bruise on Yoonho’s body.

“Did you just…” Minhyuk asked, smiling a little in disbelief.

“I think so…” Yoonho sounded just as shocked as Minhyuk felt. He looked up at his friend, then over to the two boys who were nursing their own wounds. “How did you-?”

“Me too,” he said softly, staring at his own hands. “I… I have a power…”

“That’s… wow,” Yoonho let out a breathless laugh. “I’ve got healing, I’m guessing. What about you?”

“Strength, I think.” Minhyuk was still staring at his hands, almost as if expecting them to look different now.

“Well, no one’s going to mess with us now.” Yoonho grinned and took his friend’s hands. Slowly, Minhyuk felt the pain seep from his body.

“Never again.” Minhyuk felt himself grinning. No one was going to hurt him again.

* * *

  
“Shit! It’s Rocky.” Someone whispered as Minhyuk walked past. He didn’t know where the nickname Rocky started, or by who, but he had a reason to believe it was because of how stone faced he was when he was beating someone up. At least, according to Yoonho that’s how he looked.

Within days, the entire school had turned around. Minhyuk was no longer the one being picked on. Now, he was the one people feared. Now, he was in his final year of high school and managed to create quite the reputation. He never used his powers to pick on the helpless - he wasn’t that corrupt. Instead, he acted as a Robin Hood type figure. He stopped bullying and got back stolen lunch money. He was infamous around the school for being cold hearted and sometimes even cruel to anyone who tried to test him.

Yoonho was loving their new status. Even though he had the more passive power, he was still feared - partially for being Rocky’s right hand, and partially for having a power at all. He was also well known at the infirmary, where he often slipped away to heal anyone headed in that direction.

None of the teachers tried to stop them. They knew that what Minhyuk and Yoonho were doing was what they wished they could do themselves - stop the bullying, stop the stealing, stop the inequality - but their hands were tied. As teachers, there was little they could do other than turn a blind eye to their actions.

“We’ve been challenged again,” Yoonho said, tilting his chair back a little. He has just gotten his hair bleached white, and was still a little cocky from the attention it was getting him. “Behind the school during lunch block.”

“They’ll never learn, will they?” Minhyuk asked, bored, as he watched Yoonho’s chair slip out from under him. He fell to the ground with a loud thump, cursing up a storm as he sat properly. The red mark on his cheek faded instantly, but the sour look on his face didn’t. Minhyuk couldn’t help but snort.

“Glad my pain is funny to you.” Yoonho grumbled, pouting.

“Glad to see fame hasn’t changed you,” Minhyuk shot back with a bright grin. “You’re just as much of an idiot as before. I really admire that.”

“I resent that!” Yoonho pricked as the teacher came in. She gave him one look and he quieted down, pulling out his notebook. Minhyuk snickered again, finishing the last question on his homework.

Class went by in the blink of an eye, and before they knew it, they were standing behind the school. A small gathering had formed of students too scared to get close but too curious to leave. Minhyuk looked towards the three boys that were standing closest to them and rolled his eyes. It was the same asshole that kept challenging him and kept losing, but he wasn’t sure who the other two were. They were wearing different uniforms, and Minhyuk didn’t recognize them at all.

“Again?” Minhyuk asked, stepping forward. “When will you learn that you can’t win?”

“When I win.” The boy scowled. He was still bitter from when Minhyuk broke his hand, during the fight that gave him his powers in the first place.

“Alright, let’s get this over with.” Minhyuk sighed, wanting to be anywhere but there. They were serving his favorite that day, and he was a little pissed that he was missing out

“Let me introduce my new friends,” He said, pissing Minhyuk off further. “They have… a little advantage too.”

“Less introductions, more getting this over with.” Minhyuk growled, cracking his knuckles. The stranger to the boy’s right moved first, faster than Minhyuk could see. Within seconds, Minhyuk had been thrown to the ground. The crowd gasped as he spit out some dirt that had gotten in his mouth.

The first stranger charged at him again, but this time he was ready. No matter how fast someone was, they were still vulnerable - maybe even more so - when they ran into a fist. Minhyuk watched where the boy was running to and stood with his feet apart to give him extra balance. Just as the boy was reaching him, Minhyuk punched his fist out.

It hit solid, sending the boy flying. Minhyuk smirked. If he hadn’t been so damn fast, there would be no way he could have flown that far. In reality, it was HIS fault for getting his ass handed to him so easily.

Minhyuk felt himself being lifted in the air. His eyes flew open as he struggled, but no matter how hard he looked there was nothing there. Yoonho watched in horror as Minhyuk was crushed by nothing. The second stranger, Minhyuk realized sourly. Invisibility. Of course. Of all the stupid, overused powers-

Minhyuk flexed his arms as if breaking chains wrapped around him. He was dropped instantly, the boy appearing as he howled. He quickly disappeared again, leaving Minhyuk alone in the center of the ring.

Everything went silent. No one dared breathe as Minhyuk scanned the area. He was sore, but he knew Yoonho would heal him after the match. He relaxed his stance, trying to trick the other boy into showing himself.

Just as he did that, he saw a puff of dirt be kicked up to his left. He took one deep breath before kicking his leg right where he guessed the boy would be. The boy appeared as he was flung back, his eyes rolling back as he landed heavily on the packed soil. Minhyuk turned to the first boy with a smirk.

“Anything else for me?” He asked, putting his arms out in a mocking manner. The boy growled but turned and ran, leaving his new ‘friends’ behind in the dust. As the crowd began to leave, Minhyuk nodded to Yoonho.

The blonde boy went over to the strangers and started healing them first. Minhyuk decided early on that just because he would beat them, it didn’t make him an asshole. Especially with these two - they were just brought into a fight that wasn’t theirs. They didn’t say anything to either Minhyuk or Yoonho as they ran away, tails between their legs.

“How are you doing?” Yoonho asked, taking Minhyuk’s hand. The pain in his body quickly fled and Minhyuk finally let himself relax.

“Better now,” He said with a smile. “I wasn’t expecting invisibility.”

“Makes you wonder how they got those powers…” Yoonho said, looking sad. The more time he spent in the infirmary, the more he got to see kids with their own powers - most of them developed through situations that no child should have to experience.

“Come on, they might still have some of those buns left if we hurry.” Minhyuk said softly, tugging his friend away from the fight scene.

“Yeah…” Yoonho offered him a hesitant smile, but followed nonetheless.

* * *

  
“Get down!” Minhyuk screamed as the gun was pointed in their direction. Yoonho ducked just in time for a storm of bullets to pepper the wall right where he had just been standing.

What was supposed to be a quick trip to the store turned into something straight from a nightmare. The store got robbed while they were there, and when the police came the robbers picked them off one by one. Minhyuk crouched over Yoonho, who was desperately trying to heal a sobbing girl. There was a large chunk missing from her arm, and despite his powers, Yoonho knew deep down he wasn’t going to be able to save her. She was losing too much blood, too fast.

Minhyuk watched as the light left her eyes numbly, as if he was waiting to be woken from a bad dream. But it wasn’t a dream. This was real life. The numbness was replaced with a burning fury.

“Stay here.” he ordered his friend, who was sobbing and covering his face with his hands, getting the girl’s blood over his pale cheeks and pale hair, painting both crimson.

Minhyuk barreled out, knocking one of the robbers down. He felt a bullet graze his arm but he ignored it. He picked up the robber and threw him against the wall as hard as he could. This wasn’t a school yard brawl. This was life or death, and if Minhyuk was going to pick life, he was going to have to deliver death.

Another bullet grazed his cheek as he picked up a rack of magazines and threw it at the other robber, who hadn’t realized his accomplice had been killed yet. He opened fire again, and Minhyuk barely managed to avoid most of the attack. He saw a chunk of wood that had come loose from something and hurled it at the man as hard as he could. It struck home, the man’s blood being added to his victim’s behind him.

Minhyuk cried out as he finally felt the pain, but he saw more figures moving through his haze. He lurched forward, planning on tackling the new figure to the ground, only to find himself face to face with a wall of fire. He tried to jump back, but he was too dizzy from the blood loss and ended up tripping. The fire caught on his pants, burning his leg instantly. He screamed, trying to put it out, but he was so, so tired.

The last thing he heard before passing out was someone screaming ‘stop’.

* * *

  
“You don’t think he’s…” someone said. It sounded like it was from another dimension, the words wavy and weird.

“Of course not,” A second voice scolded. “Look at him. He’s still breathing fine. You just feel guilty.”

“Well how can I not?” The first voice snapped back before quickly hushing itself. “I almost fucking killed the kid-”

“You didn’t know hyung,” The second voice said again. “You thought he was another robber.”

Minhyuk tried to think back to what happened. Shopping, guns, blood, Yoonho-

“Shit!” He sat up, only to double over in pain. It radiated through his body in ways he never thought possible. He looked around, desperately searching for the familiar shock of white blonde hair, but all he saw were two boys about his age, looking at him in shock,

“Well he’s awake now.” The taller one said, smirking a little.

“Are you okay? Of course you’re not okay… what happened at the store? You… killing someone is always scary the first time… are you okay with that? If you need to talk to someone-”

“Take a breath Jinwoo hyung, you’re going to scare him.” The taller boy scolded him.

“Ah, sorry. Shit, I should probably explain what happened.” The smaller boy - Jinwoo - said, looking a little embarrassed.

“I’ll tell Myungjun hyung that he’s awake.” The taller boy said.

“Thanks Binnie,” Jinwoo gave Bin a relieved smile before turning back to Minhyuk. “Well, to start my name is Park Jinwoo. That was Moon Bin. This… well this is our makeshift headquarters, in a sense.”

“Headquarters?” Minhyuk asked, his voice hoarse.

“We’re a superhero group, Astro,” Jinwoo explained. He saw a flicker of recognition pass through Minhyuk’s eyes, which he took as a good sign. “We were responding to a robbery. We found all the police, dead… when we went in, we were expecting to see the robbers. I bet you could imagine our surprise when we see two more bodies and a teenager covered in blood. Sorry about your leg, by the way… I thought you were trying to attack Dongmin, so I put up a wall. Binnie said the burns weren’t too bad, and that they’ll heal quickly-”

At the word ‘heal’, Minhyuk remembered the reason he was so upset in the first place. He sat up and swung his legs to the side of the bed. He forced himself to stand even though the pain was screaming at him to sit back down.

“Wh-where are you going?” Jinwoo asked, frantically trying to get the boy to stop moving, but Minhyuk didn’t listen. He shoved Jinwoo aside, not looking back when he heard him hit the wall hard.

“What’s going on?” A new voice called up the stairs.

“He’s trying to leave!” Jinwoo called past him, but Minhyuk didn’t care. The only thing he cared about was getting back to Yoonho. How could he have been so stupid as to leave his friend behind-

“Woah there tiger, you’re not going anywhere.” The new voice said. Minhyuk turned and saw a small, smiling boy looking up at him. Minhyuk scowled and ripped his arm away from the newcomer’s grip.

“I have to find Yoonho-” Minhyuk growled, the pain making his voice deep and rocky. If he wasn’t so worried and in pain, he might have chuckled at the adjective.

“We can’t let you go until you’re healed more.” Bin came back, looking worried.

“I’m leaving this fuckin house and there’s nothing you can do.” He growled, Rocky coming out as a defense mechanism.

“At least let me drive you home.” The smiley boy said, no longer smiling.

“Myungjun hyung you can’t let him-” Jinwoo started to protest, but Myungjun shook his head.

“If he’s so serious about leaving, we can’t keep him here. We’re heros, not kidnappers,” He said, sounding serious. The other two instantly backed down, much to Minhyuk’s surprise. “Let me get my keys and we can go.”

Myungjun’s car was a little small and a little worn, but Minhyuk could instantly tell it held a lot of stories. He gave the elder his address, and Myungjun typed it into his phone before putting the car into drive.

The trip was silent, save for the radio and the sounds of traffic. Another surprise, the house they took Minhyuk to was only one town over from his own, so within half an hour they were pulling onto a familiar street.

“Look kid,” Myungjun said, slowing down for some children crossing the road. “I don’t know your life, or what brought you to us, but if you ever need a place to go… the house is open to you.”

“That’s offering a lot.” Minhyuk grumbled, trying not to wince every time they hit a bump.

“Yeah, but I can tell you’re special.” He said, smiling. Minhyuk didn’t understand how he could be so sure about someone he just met- maybe he had mind reading powers?

“This is it,” Minhyuk pointed to a medium sized house. His parent’s cars were gone, still at work, he hoped. He needed to get to his computer and message Yoonho quick - his phone was most definitely dead by that point. “Thanks… for patching me up and bringing me home…”

“No problem,” Myungjun grinned and handed Minhyuk a napkin with something scribbled on it. “Like I said, you’re always welcome. You can even join the team, if you wanted.”

“Sure…” Minhyuk trailed off, hauling himself from the car. He turned just in time to see Myungjun wave at him one more time before pulling away. Minhyuk made his way into the house, sighing when he realized it was silent, as he expected. He made his way up to his room and opened his computer, quickly messaging his friend and plugging in his phone

“I need you to come over. I’m real fucked up.” Was all he said before pressing send. He collapsed on his bed as he waited for a response - or better yet, the sound of the door opening since Yoonho never learned to knock before entering his home - but managed to fall asleep before either happened.

Minhyuk woke up disoriented. He was in even more pain than before, and the sun had gone down. He groaned as he sat up and checked his phone. He saw a note from his mom on top, written in neat ink.

“Saw you were sleeping. Dinner is in the fridge. Love you, Mom.” Minhyuk smiled and put the note aside. He saw a new message from Yoonho and smiled fully. Finally, he could be healed properly and pretend none of this ever happened-

“Oh fuck…” Minhyuk breathed, his eyes widening as he read the message. He stood up, only to fall back down. The napkin fell out of his pocket, an unfamiliar address scribbled in unfamiliar handwriting stared back at him.

He quickly ordered a cab and rushed from his bedroom, as quiet as possible so as not to wake his parents. The cab came quickly, and Minhyuk threw the napkin at him, telling him to step on it. The entire trip, he stared at the message, the image blurring from the tears stinging his eyes. By the time he pulled up to the house, Minhyuk had it memorized.

He pounded on the the door, trying to hold back the sobs that threatened to rip through him.

“Who the absolute fuck-?” The door was ripped open and Bin’s complaints died on his tongue. “Oh shit, it’s you.”

“Please,” Minhyuk blubbered, the tears finally falling. “They- they took him! Please help me.”

“Whoah hold on,” Bin caught Minhyuk before he fell completely. “First come in. Then explain what’s going on.”

The commotion stirred the rest of the house, the lights flickering on one by one until Minhyuk found himself surrounded by four confused heros. He recognized three, but the fourth was a stranger.

“What’s going on?” Jinwoo asked, looking the most alert out of the four of them. Minhyuk just handed him his phone. “If you’re the boy from the store, you killed the wrong people. You left something behind that I was kind enough to pick up. Wanna trade? His life for yours, payment for my friends.”

“They- they took Yoonho-” Minhyuk sobbed, his words barely understandable. Yoonho was his only real friend, the only person who didn’t try to suck up to him because he was scary and strong. The only person who still goofed around with him and made him smile, and now he was in danger because of Minhyuk.

“We’ll get him back,” Jinwoo said, much more awake now. “He sent an address that isn’t far from here. We’ll head out as soon as we can. You’ll stay here-”

“No,” Minhyuk said instantly. “I’m not staying. He’s my friend and it’s my fault he’s in this position-”

“Maybe if you were in any condition to fight,” Jinwoo countered. “But as of now you’re too hurt to be of any help.”

“I’ll be bait then,” He said, looking Jinwoo straight in the eye. “Send me in first. Once Yoonho is brought out, rush in. Get him out first and I’ll follow.”

“What if it isn’t that easy? What if you get more hurt?” Jinwoo tried to argue.

“Yoonho has powers. He’s a healer.” Minhyuk revealed.

“It’s not the worst idea…” Bin muttered, earning a shocked look from his leader.

“It is the worst idea” Jinwoo all but screeched. “Look at him Bin! He’s about to pass out.”

“I can still fight.” Minhyuk offered, trying to look intimidating.

“Honestly, if he looks like less of a threat there’s less chance they’ll pull anything.” Myungjun added, causing Jinwoo to groan.

“Fine! We’ll figure it out in the car!” He caved, frowning. “Everyone get dressed! This is an official mission!”

* * *

  
Minhyuk pushed open the door to the house, not sure what to expect. The address brought them to a suspiciously normal looking home. Astro parked down the road, having Minhyuk walk the two blocks seemingly alone - Blackcat followed behind him to make sure everything went smoothly.

“Hello?” Minhyuk called out, making himself sound in pain and weak. “Yoonho? Where are you?”

“You know, I almost wasn’t expecting you to come,” A voice said. The lights clicked on and Minhyuk barely held back a scream. Yoonho was tied to a chair, blood covering his face. It was obvious the boy was unconscious, but Minhyuk could see his chest moving. All his had to do was get Yoonho out of there and they were golden. “You’re a strange boy. Strong as ten men but tear up at the sight of a little blood.”

“I’m here, now let him go.” Minhyuk didn’t have to fake the trembling in his voice.

“You know, I should be thanking you,” The man said, smirking. He looked… completely normal, like anyone Minhyuk would have passed on the streets. “Those two idiots were trigger happy. But with you on my side, we could accomplish great things.”

“You’re...not going to kill me?” Minhyuk was genuinely confused.

“Oh I was at first, but then I thought about it,” He said playing with Yoonho’s hair. “You’re young, unassuming… you’d be the perfect accomplice.”

“I’m not going to work with you,” Minhyuk spat, mentally begging Astro to hurry up. “You’re going to let Yoonho go, then either you kill me or I kill you.”

“And you have spunk!” The man clapped his hands happily. “I’ll let him go, and if I win the fight you become my dog. How does that sound?”

“Fine.” Minhyuk grit his teeth angrily.

“Glad we came to an understanding.” He smiled and untied Yoonho, who slouched to the floor. Minhyuk rushed forward to catch his friend, who started to stir.

“Min-?” His whispered, his voice almost gone.

“I got you,” Minhyuk said, smiling as tears ran down his face. “You’re going to be okay.”

“What happened-” His question was cut off as the man kicked him from Minhyuk’s arms.

“That’s enough of that,” He said with a smile. “Run along now boy. We have business to finish.”

“What? I’m not going to leave-” Yoonho was already healing himself as he stood. The man whipped around with rage in his eyes. He reached his hand out and Yoonho stopped talking. He reached up to his throat, as if he was being choked, but there was nothing there. Minhyuk could only watch in horror as Yoonho started turning blue as he fought against nothing. He turned to the man, who was grinning,

“YOU-” he screamed, starting to run at him. A flash of blue ran past Minhyuk. The man was suddenly on the ground, holding his stomach as if he had just been punched in the gut. Minhyuk looked up in shock to see someone in a blue - no, mint - sweatshirt already jumping out the window. The second the person in mint was gone, the front door slammed open.

Burnout rushed in first, trapping the man in a cage of fire. Timeskip and Bloodhound went over to Yoonho, who was coughing as he tried to take a breath.

“There are others here,” Blood house said, looking up at the ceiling. “Looks like the family that lives here. All alive, it looks. Plus a bunch of illegal shit. We need to cops here ASAP.”

“On it.” Blackcat said, already holding a phone up to his ear.

“Shit, Minhyuk!” Yoonho broke away from the heros and rushed to his friend, who had fallen to his knees in relief.

“You’re okay…” He breathed, the relief almost as painful as the gunshot wounds.

“But you’re not, you idiot,” Yoonho scolded as he started to heal his friend. “What were you thinking? You could have been killed!”

“I’m so sorry.” he curled in on his friend, sobbing as Yoonho hugged him.

* * *

  
“Are you sure you don’t want to join?” Jinwoo asked Yoonho with a smile. “We have plenty of room at the house.”

“Thanks for the offer, but I think I’m going to do what my dad suggested.” Yoonho said with a smile. After the incident, Yoonho had to finally come clean about his powers. His dad suggested going to the states with him, to learn more about medicine and help children stuck in hospitals.

“You’re gonna do great things Yoonho.” Minhyuk said, trying to keep his composure.

“I’m going to miss you, you idiot.” Yoonho said, his voice cracking.

“Me too.” Minhyuk grinned as he cried. The boys hugged as the others watched fondly.

“You’re welcome to visit anytime you’re in town.” Jinwoo said as he put a hand on Minhyuk’s arm.

“I’ll take you up on that,” Yoonho grinned again. “Text me, okay?”

“Of course.” Minhyuk shook his head. Yoonho waved one last time before his car pulled away.

“You okay?” Myungjun asked as Minhyuk watched his friend get smaller and smaller.

“Yeah, I’m just going to miss him.” Minhyuk said, taking a deep breath.

“He’s just going on trip. He’ll be back soon,” Jinwoo said, pulling Minhyuk into the house. “Now is the fun part. You get to pick your room.”

“Really?” Minhyuk was surprised.

“Well, Myungjun and I share a room,” He said, pointing towards the master bedroom. “Binnie has the one closest to the stairs cuz he gets hungry at night. Dongminnie called that one because of the windows, but that leaves two more rooms upstairs, plus the office downstairs that we can make into a room if you want.”

“I’ll take whatever.” He blushed and fiddled with the handle of his suitcase.

“Welcome to the family Minhyuk.” Jinwoo said fondly. Minhyuk blushed and looked away, but smiled nonetheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'm so sorry for how long this took? I really don't have any excuse cuz I've been writing like crazy otherwise. As of right now, this is going to be the last chapter, but I might still do one more as like a wrap up chapter? 
> 
> Secondly, I know the timelines are a little wacky, but bear with me? I never expected it to go this far, so I never bothered to really keep an eye on when everything happened? Whoops! Anyway, I had a lot of fun with this chapter. I wasn't sure how it was going to play out, and I definitely wasn't expecting Yoonho to play such a big part, but I'm probably going to add him as a full character now.
> 
> Thank you everyone for supporting this universe! I've had so much fun writing it, and I hope to keep it going one day!

**Author's Note:**

> I love this universe, so I'm very excited to keep it going! I already have the plots of the other chapters written out, so all I have to do is flesh out my ideas. I hope to post every day/ every other day depending on how much time I have.


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